Climbing Higher Pictures

I don’t think Danny Boyle makes boring movies. You’d think a hiker stuck in a ravine for an extended period of time would be a real drag, but then he proves you wrong. Is there enough substance here besides a tour-de-force performance and one of the more disconcertingly vivid depictions of dehydration and madness ever put to film?

127 Hours Review

By Ryan Hamelin

Movie: A

I hated Slumdog Millionaire. I just wanted to get that out of the way at the outset. I’m a huge Danny Boyle fan, having found a way to enjoy or adore all of his previous efforts. Why didn’t I like Slumdog? Because it was a horrifically stupid script, complete with shallow characters, contrivances masquerading as plot, and a total lack of emotional weight. It also had a habit of winning awards it did not deserve, as people seemed to be content with bubbling it in wherever it appeared on a ballot. Do not take it as exaggeration when I say that “Jai Ho!” is ringing in my ears to this day.

It was with much trepidation that I lowered myself into a seat for 127 Hours, the story of a hiker who found himself trapped by a rock for… well… 127 hours. You can find out what happened to him just about anywhere on the internet, and in fact, you’ve probably already heard the story. When the audience knows the ending, it makes tension all the more challenging, and as I perceived Boyle going “soft” with Slumdog, I wasn’t entirely sure he was up to the challenge. Thankfully, this is a major return to form, while simultaneously being a very different type of filmmaking to what we’re used to seeing form him. The opening titles alone give you a real sense of disorientation, making use of multiple split screens and pounding ethnic music from the composer of Slumdog. The film is great at immersing the viewer in the world of its protagonist, and never leaves his perspective from the opening shot. You are out there with him, as well as being deep inside his head, and the film packs quite the emotional punch to keep you there.

The man of the hour here is James Franco, a performer who, frankly, hasn’t done a lot to impress me in the past. The last film he attempted to carry on his own, William Vincent, was an absolute train wreck, though none of that appeared to come from Franco himself. This time, it’s really all about him, and with the exception of some great moments early on with fellow hikers Kate Mara, and Amber Tamblyn, we really don’t see him interact directly with very many people. In a lot of ways, that’s where the film loses some of its edge for me, as suffering through the torture of his eventual predicament leaves you wanting to see some emotional closure with the other supporting roles. I wanted to know what happened next, I wanted to see him acknowledge the things about his life which he realized needed to change. On the other hand, it’s a movie titled 127 Hours, and I guess seeing any of the story beyond that chronology may have been expecting too much.

If you’re wary of how far the film is willing to push, I’ll tell you. All. The. Way. It leaves nothing behind in that cave except the boulder and some of his supplies. You will experience pain, you will experience fear, and you will experience the kind of dehydrated exhaustion that we can only ever dream about. If you’re not emotionally spent by the time the credits roll, you haven’t been paying attention. Those concerned about an overabundance of flashbacks and cutaways to pad the length will be relieved. At a blistering 84 minutes, the film feels as agonizing as it’s supposed to, and we only manage to leave the location in the forms of dreams and hallucinations the character himself has. We even get a series of incredibly honest monologues throughout the movie, as one of the only things he has in his pack of use is a DV camcorder. A lot of the script is reportedly lifted word for word from the real life footage, and I’m not at all surprised. This is a broken man, a destroyed soul, and a performance people will be talking about come awards season. He’ll get an Oscar nomination, though I’m hesitant to give him the crown as there’s still so many films yet to see release. One thing’s for sure, he’s proved himself more than capable of handling some impressively serious subject matter, and we should all take his recent Soap Opera stint as exactly what it is, a college kid playing around. I look forward to seeing him develop as an actor, and this is going to be the part that really opens up doors for him. It’s certainly not for everyone, but as one of the great performances of the year, this one is a must-see.